One of the most exciting parts of WSU's Creative Writing program is that every year we bring a Distinguished Visiting Writer and an Emerging Visiting Writer, one in each genre, to work with our students in month-long one-on-one tutorial courses. So, in addition to working with our permanent faculty, WSU Creative Writing students have the opportunity to work with a diverse array of new, established, and distinguished voices during the course of their three years. And, students working in more than one genre are often also able to take courses with the distinguished visitor in the alternate genre.
Past distinguished writers
Over the past four years, our Distinguished Visitor positions have been awarded to Ariana Reines, Jericho Brown, Mary Ruefle, Robin Coste Lewis (forced to withdraw), Kim Addonizio, Yannick Murphy and pulitzer prize winner Andrew Sean Greer. Our introductory Emerging Visiting Writers have included the poet Sandra Beasley and the fiction writers Lee Clay Johnson and Margaret Malone.
Over the history of the program, visitors have included: Lee Abbott, Kim Addonizio, Renee Ashley, Russell Banks, Sandra Beasley, Peter Behrens, Marvin Bell, Michael Blumenthal, Scott Blackwood, Jericho Brown, Sharon Bryan, Scott Cairns, Peter Cameron, Brock Clarke, K.L. Cook, Ann Copeland, George Cuomo, Richard Currey, Phil Dacey, Robert Dana, Madeline DeFrees, Rick Demarinis, Stephen Dunn, Richard Elman, Carol Frost, Greg Glazner, Andrew Sean Greer, Debora Greger, Ron Hansen, Michael Harper, William Hathaway, Shelby Hearon, Cary Holladay, Laura Kalpakian, Elizabeth Libbey, Margaret Malone, Jack Matthews, Michael McGriff, Jay Meek, Peter Meinke, Malena Morling, Lisel Mueller, Richard Murphy, Yannick Murphy, Jack Myers, Antonya Nelson, Kent Nelson, Achy Obejas, Ed Ochester, Robert Olmstead, Eric Pankey, Bette Pesetsky, Leslie Pietrzyk, Stanley Plumley, Kevin Prufer, Bin Ramke, Ariana Reines, Nancy Roberts, Mary Elsie Robertson, Dana Roeser, William Pitt Root, Abraham Rothberg, Mary Ruefle, Hugh Seidman, Bob Shacochis, Ed Skoog, Terese Svoboda, Mark Smith, Henry Taylor, Katherine Vaz, Michael Waters, Paul West, James Wilcox, C.K. Williams, Hilma Wolitzer, Richard Yates and Paul Zimmer.